The present invention relates to a switch device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a composite operation type switch device capable of conducting five different operations with one operation member and also capable of outputting an electric signal for each operation.
Concerning the composite operation type switch device which is used as a part for inputting signals into an electronic apparatus such as a video camera, digital camera, audio CD player or cellular phone, a plurality of switches must be smoothly, continuously operated so as to conduct a predetermined processing.
In order to meet the above demand, JP-A-9-63420 discloses a switch device in which two different switching operations can be conducted by the rotary operation of one operation switch in such a manner that the first switch is operated when a single operation member is rotated to the left and the second switch is operated when the single operation member is rotated to the right. Further, JP-A-2001-143577 discloses a switch device in which three different switching operations can be conducted by the rotary operation of a single operation switch in such a manner that the first switch is operated when the single operation member is rotated to the right and the second switch is operated when the single operation member is rotated to the left and the third switch is operated when the single operation member is pushed.
As described above, according to the switch device described in JP-A-9-63420, contact points of two different switches can be changed by the operation of the single operation member. According to the switch device described in JP-A-2001-143577, contact points or three different switches can be changed by the operation of the single operation member. However, in order to use the switch devices as parts for inputting data into multi-functional information apparatus recently developed, the switching number of two or three is not sufficiently large for the multi-functional switch use. In the case where a composite operation type switch device, the contact point switching number of which is small, is used as a part for inputting data, it is impossible to conduct various types of operation by the composite operation type switch device. Therefore, a plurality of switch devices are needed to conduct various types of operation. However, when a plurality of switch devices are used for a mobile information apparatus, the size or the apparatus is increased.